Canto <= 3.0.8 - Unauthenticated Remote File Inclusion
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 3.0.9
- Affected Plugin
- Canto
- Affected Version
<= 3.0.8- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-98 · Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion')
- CVE
CVE-2024-4936
At a glance
CVE-2024-4936 is a critical-severity Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion') vulnerability in the Canto WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.0.8. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.0.9; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2024, reported by Sushi Com Abacate.
Vulnerability Overview
The Canto plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Remote File Inclusion in all versions up to, and including, 3.0.8 via the abspath parameter. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to include remote files on the server, resulting in code execution. This required allow_url_include to be enabled on the target site in order to exploit.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no privileges on the target site, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-98: Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion')
Reaching this weakness in Canto <= 3.0.8 takes no account at all. PHP file inclusion means a path used by include or require is built from request data, so the file that gets executed is under the caller's influence.
Including an attacker-influenced file executes its contents, which is why this class is routinely chained with an upload or log-poisoning step to reach code execution. For Canto the fix is 3.0.9: builds <= 3.0.8 are affected, anything from 3.0.9 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 3.0.9, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
Requests carrying this pattern arrive without a session, so nothing upstream of the firewall gets a chance to reject them: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Canto 3.0.9 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Scanner
- Login Security
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
Other vulnerabilities in Canto
- 8.3CVE-2020-28976: Canto <= 1.9.0 Blind Server-Side Request Forgery
CVE-2020-28976 - 8.3CVE-2020-24063: Canto <= 1.9.0 Blind Server-Side Request Forgery
CVE-2020-24063 - 8.3CVE-2020-28977: Canto <= 1.9.0 Blind Server-Side Request Forgery
CVE-2020-28977 - 8.3CVE-2020-28978: Canto <= 1.9.0 Blind Server-Side Request Forgery
CVE-2020-28978 - 5.3CVE-2026-3335: Canto <= 3.1.1 Unauthenticated File Upload
CVE-2026-3335 - 4.3CVE-2026-6441: Canto Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary Setting
CVE-2026-6441
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